On top of everything else going on in this chaotic day of NFL news, the lingering StarCaps saga seems to have finally come to a close. The Minnesota court system cleared the way for the league to suspend New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith and Minnesota Vikings defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams.

Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-PicayuneELIOT KAMENITZ / THE TIMES PICAYUNE
Will Smith (91) is likely to get a four game suspension for taking a supplement containing a banned substance. The 2008 suspension was put on hold by the NFL pending the outcome of a court case that ended in Minnesota this week.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Pro Football Talk that the Minnesota Supreme Court issued an order Thursday morning denying a review of the case. So far, the players have lost all their appeals through both the federal court system and the Minnesota courts.

"The result is the case is over and we, the NFL, prevailed in the case," Aiello said. "So there is a court in Minnesota that rules in our favor from time to time."

Presumably, that means Smith will be suspended for the first four games of the 2011 season, though the league has not made an official announcement on the suspensions yet.

Neither Smith nor his agent Joel Segal was reached for comment.

The suspensions have been on hold since 2008, when Smith, former Saints tailback Deuce McAllister, former Saints defensive end Charles Grant and the Williamses originally tested positive for a banned diuretic called bumetanide. The players fought the suspensions, claiming that their positive tests stemmed from a tainted over-the-counter weight-loss product called StarCaps and that the league knew the product was tainted but failed to properly warn players.

The league and the court systems have denied all appeals, saying the league's policy on steroids and related substances is clear - that players are responsible for what goes into their bodies, even if it's unintentional. The league clearly warns players that such supplements should be avoided because they aren't strictly regulated.